Hyakunin Isshu: Meet the Poets
Kiyohara no Fukayabu

Meaning

On a summer night, the day has already dawned while it still feels like early evening. Where in the clouds is the moon hiding?

Commentary

Summer nights in Japan are famously brief. The poet had barely settled into the evening when the sky was already brightening. And now the moon, which should still be visible, has somehow hidden itself among the clouds before the night could properly begin. The poem turns this swift transition into a moment of gentle, playful wonder.

Kiyohara no Fukayabu was a skilled poet of the Kokinshū era and is particularly notable as the grandfather of Sei Shōnagon (poem 62). His verse tends toward clear, precise imagery rather than complex emotional statement. This poem, with its playful question about where the moon has gone, captures the dreamy quality of a summer dawn that arrives too soon.

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